Entries for 'coal'

Triple Point received the prestigious “ETRM Software House of the Year” from Energy Risk magazine this week at an awards dinner held this past week at the Energy Risk USA conference in Houston. Triple Point was selected as the winner because of its revenue, profit, and customer growth in 2012 along with its unique ability to deliver innovative, next generation commodity trading and risk management (CTRM) solutions including mobile applications.

In 2012 Triple Point grew its revenue by 30% and its profit by 40%, and added 28 new energy companies to its base of 400+ customers including Spanish power generator Iberdrola Generation, Korean-based oil refiner and marketer SK Energy, Brazil energy giant Petrobras, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Limited.

When accepting the award on behalf of Triple Point, Sr. Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michael Schwartz emphasized that what makes Triple Point successful is the people behind the software, who are committed to delivering unsurpassed value.

I recently talked to Exxaro, South Africa’s second largest coal producer, about the challenges affecting the industry today and how they are transforming their business to meet the growing global demand for coal. A major part of their transformation has been to reengineer the supply chain so that they can produce substantially more coal and generate more revenue.

During our conversation, Melanie Steyn, Exxaro’s Coal Export Manager offered some fascinating insight into the risks posed by manual supply chains. Using spreadsheets to manage complex supply chains can result in inefficient production, financial penalties, high transportation costs and demurrage.

Melanie goes on to talk about their implementation of QMASTOR’s Pit to Port solution and the benefits it has brought Exxaro which include increased productivity, significantly reduced costs and a centralized view across all mines, stockpiles and terminals. Additionally, QMASTOR’s seamless integration with SAP EEC6 has enhanced efficiency throughout the supply chain.

Transnet is crucial to the future of the South African coal industry. Today, the volume that the rail network can carry is below the export capacity of their largest coal terminal (Richards Bay). Transnet have started upgrading the network which has brought improvements but also some temporary fluctuations in capacity. This boost from President Zuma could not have come at a better time.